Will dengue fever play the spoilsports this summer?
In Spain, the health authorities of Ibiza will raise the level of risk from “low” to “moderate” from April, the start of the breeding period for mosquito vectors.
Six German tourists, from two different families and having traveled at different times, were infected during their stay on the Balearic island between May and September 2022. In France, 13 confirmed cases and 120 suggestive cases have been identified in Martinique last February, while 65 cases were detected in mainland France between May and November 2022.
Should we therefore fear the worst for our holidays this summer?
This infectious disease is transmitted to humans by the bite of
Aedes
mosquitoes , mainly
Aedes aegypti
and
Aedes albopictus
(tiger mosquito).
Not contagious, it is not transmitted directly from man to man.
Nearly 400 million cases are recorded each year worldwide, a figure which has increased eightfold in 20 years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
And which is undoubtedly well below reality, since half of humanity is “
exposed to the risk of contracting this disease
”.
Nevertheless, 80% of infections are mild and/or asymptomatic.
It is fatal in 1 to 2% of cases (dengue hemorrhagic fever).
"
The symptoms are most often flu-like (fever, headache, body aches) and appear within 3 to 14 days of the mosquito bite," recalls
the French Ministry of Health.
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About a hundred countries exposed, especially in Asia and Latin America
Dengue fever case notification rate per 100,000 population, October-December 2022. European Center for Disease Prevention and Control
The risk of exposure to the disease varies depending on the country you are traveling to.
“
Dengue fever is found in tropical and subtropical regions around the world, with a predilection for urban and semi-urban areas
,” recalls the WHO.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) details in a list the level of risk country by country (a hundred in total).
Thus, the cases are "
frequent
" and the threat "
continues
" in almost all Asian countries and much of Latin America.
In Africa, this is particularly the case in Kenya and Tanzania.
The organization also has a map of the world showing the areas where dengue fever cases have been reported in the past three months.
"
The incidence of dengue fever is currently increasing very significantly and now ranks it among the so-called 're-emerging' diseases
," recalls the Institut Pasteur.
Initially present in tropical and subtropical areas of the world, dengue has now affected Europe where the first 2 autochthonous cases were recorded in 2010
.
Wear long, loose clothing covering the whole body, use repellents, sleep with a mosquito net, avoid bodies of stagnant water at sunrise and sunset… So many individual precautions that reduce the risk of being infected with dengue fever. , but also other tropical diseases transmitted by tiger mosquitoes, such as zika, chikungunya or malaria.
